Stereotypes and Social Judgment

Abstract

Five experiments were conducted to study the role of correlated cues in social judgments. Respondents were initially exposed to an induction series in which there was a systematic association between the amount of psychopathology that was implied by various behavior samples and other readily discernable aspects of these samples (i.e., correlated cues). In two studies, for example, a series of confused definitions seemed to emanate from the patients at Central Hospital, whereas the patients at Metropolitan Hospital appeared to be the source of nonpathological definitions. The introduction of correlated cues often produced contrast effects, suggesting that our respondents may have evaluated the test definitions by implicitly comparing them to other definitions from that category (e.g., other definitions from the same hospital). Assimilation effects were observed when respondents were required to indicate their overall impressions of a given patient, or group of patients, before evaluating a particular definition. © 1986 American Psychological Association.